E3 2015 Press Conference Coverage – Square Enix

It’s finally here! The last Press Conference before the show floor opens is in the hands of Square Enix. The publisher does have quite a few titles in its catalog to warrant a conference, but I’m a bit worried that they let loose their biggest reveal (Final Fantasy VII Remake) too soon.

So how’d they do? Not good. In fact, Square Enix’s Press Conference was the most boring and awkward E3 Conference I have seen in a while. So little happened, so little gameplay was shown. In fact, no live demos were shown. Just trailers, with some having gameplay in them.

I already had a hard enough time as it was to write about Nintendo’s announcements that they’d later have on Treehouse. What am I supposed to do when Square Enix shows, not one, but two trailers from the Sony Conference again, unchanged, with no new input besides “The game is coming, guys, don’t worry!”?

To be fair there was some pretty cool news to be found here, so I’d like to cover the games that were either newly announced or that had more substantial information shared than before.

NeiR Project

A rather unexpected reveal, as I didn’t think that NeiR ended up doing well financially. Still, NeiR could be considered a cult hit, a hidden gem. The most interesting part of this game is that It’s being developed by Platinum Games, who seem to be all over the map at the moment on projects. I’m genuinely looking forward to what Platinum can do with a Square Enix JRPG, but we’ll need to wait until this fall to hear more.

Lara Croft Go

Hitman Go is a genuinely good mobile game based on the Hitman franchise that delivered something different, and it deserves respect for not going the easy route. It looks like Square Enix Montreal wants to continue this trend with Lara Croft Go. Like Hitman Go, this game will be more about the turn-based puzzle design than actual action-adventure. It made sense for Hitman as an extension of its methodical gameplay design, so I’m intrigued to see what Lara Croft Go could do. Lara Croft Go currently does not have a release date.

Final Fantasy VII on iOS and PlayStation 4

While the Final Fantasy VII Remake news is a literal repeat, we did get some word on the original FFVII port that was announced late last year as coming to the PlayStation 4. Final Fantasy VII will arrive on PlayStation 4 this winter, while the newly announced iOS version is coming this summer.

Kingdom Hearts: Unchained Key/Kingdom Hearts 3

Both previously revealed Kingdom Hearts games showed their faces during Square Enix’s conference. Kingdom Hearts X, is a Japan-only smartphone game due to release this year, and it’ll be getting a Western release sometime soon. The other, Kingdom Hearts 3, was finally shown after a bit of teasing. The gameplay shown was pretty much just combat, and it was set in the Tangled universe, one of the newest Disney properties to join the series. I can safely say that it was worth the wait, as the game is looking just as impressive as Final Fantasy XV. This was easily the highlight of the show.

Hitman

The game’s existence was revealed during Sony’s conference, but we were able to see some in-game narrated gameplay. Some other features were also mentioned, like the enhanced Contracts mode from Hitman: Absolution. The next Hitman game will be coming December 8th.

Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness

More gameplay was also shown in trailer form of the previously revealed Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness. I’ve never played a Star Ocean game before, but it appears to be an Action-RPG with a team of six characters shown. As it was presented, it was mentioned that the goal of the game is to be as seemless as possible, and to avoid having players sit and wait for cutscenes to finish. It’ll be interesting to see more of Star Ocean soon, and we won’t have to wait long with its 2016 release window.

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided

Again, the latest Deus Ex info was mainly in trailer form, but we did get some more information on the story. Set two years after the events of Human Revolution, Mankind Divided has you playing Adam Jensen, who is now part of Task Force 29, whose job it is to investigate and stop terrorist attacks. However, he is also pursuing a group known as the Illuminati for his own reasons. The release window was also shown to be in early 2016.

Project SETSUNA

Lastly, as part of Square Enix’s initiative to get back to their JRPG roots, the company announced the formation of a new studio called Tokyo RPG Factory. This studio is currently working on Project SETSUNA, which Square Enix CEO Yosuke Matsuda made clear was not a sequel or spin-off. This project will be an original IP that currently has nothing more to show than concept art, so don’t expect a release window anytime soon.

Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, the gems from Square Enix’s Press Conference give me confidence in the company’s future, and I sincerely hope that they don’t try to do this again next year. With that, E3 2015’s Press Conferences have concluded. Remember, as always, try not to buy into the hype too hard!

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